


voidmoth circling flame

by taywen



Category: Machineries of Empire Series - Yoon Ha Lee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, First Meetings, Gen, Nirai!Cheris
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:28:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22222588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taywen/pseuds/taywen
Summary: “No one from the Mwennin minority has ever entered faction service before. Why did you choose to join the Nirai?”“I first applied to Kel Academy Prime,” Cheris said. “A certain high-ranking Nirai solicited my enrolment with his faction not long after, on the basis of my mathematical scores.” She shrugged, spreading her hands as if to say:here I am now.“Kujen recruited you.” Khiaz’s tone had gone flat. Jedao tensed even further: Khiaz was not only surprised, but displeased.Newly-promoted brigadier general Shuos Jedao meets the latest Nirai heptarch at a party.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40





	voidmoth circling flame

“Is this room occupied? I didn’t realize.”

For one endless moment, Jedao thought Khiaz would ignore the interruption entirely, but—finally—she stepped back. As the distance between them widened, Jedao could turn to look at the womanform that had spoken while still keeping Khiaz in his peripheral vision.

She was an unremarkable Nirai—rather young, assuming she hadn’t bothered with mods and surgery to keep her appearance youthful—who might have been pretty if she hadn’t worn such a frown. But she’d given Jedao a reprieve, no matter how temporary; he could have kissed her for that alone.

“Cheris,” Khiaz murmured, prowling closer to the other woman.

Nirai Cheris. The name was unfamiliar.

“Oh, Khiaz. I mistook you for a Kel in those clothes,” Cheris said, in that same tone of flat unsurprise.

Jedao blinked. Now was the perfect opportunity to slip away while their attentions were focused on each other, but the strange exchange was too intriguing—Nirai Cheris, whoever she was, was far too familiar with the Shuos heptarch.

“That’s the idea. This is a Kel party, inasmuch as the Kel know how to throw a party.”

“So long as they don’t mistake the missiles for fireworks,” Cheris said, dry.

“That only happened once. Twice, at the most,” Jedao quipped. Kel jokes, he could do. “Any other incidents have been redacted from official record.”

Cheris’ lips twitched upward briefly. “I’ll take your word for it—” her eyes flicked to his new insignia, “—General.”

“Was there some reason you needed the room, Cheris?”

“Just looking for somewhere quiet to catch my breath.”

“Jedao can be quiet. You’re welcome to join us.” Jedao tensed, but Cheris’ gaze lingered only on Khiaz. She had spared him a single glance so far, when he’d spoken. She hesitated for only a second before she answered, but that was more than long enough for a Shuos to notice: the offer had arrested her, even if for a moment.

“What game are you playing?” Cheris looked around like she expected to find a board laid out, or some cards. As if Jedao’s hair wasn’t a disaster; heat still lingered in his cheeks, and his heart rate had yet to slow either. He’d fumbled his uniform to rights as soon as Khiaz turned away, but it should have been obvious what Khiaz had been doing to—with him.

“I don’t know that you’d have much taste for it.” A smile was still fixed on Khiaz’s beautiful mouth, but he could sense her growing annoyance.

For his part, Jedao was—baffled. The oblivious, study-obsessed academic was a typical Nirai stereotype, but surely no one could be this obtuse. Her clothes were a fairly plain variation of Nirai formal dress: low-ranking, and suitably unversed in inter-faction relations. Which upper Nirai official had an axe to grind, that they’d let her loose in this party of predators?

“If I enjoyed games, I would have joined the Shuos,” Cheris agreed.

Khiaz laughed, low and throaty. “As it happens, that’s something the other heptarchs and I have been discussing; perhaps you can put our little squabble to bed.”

Cheris’ expression went flat: better than allowing her true emotions to show, but only just. She really was unsuited for representing her faction at one of these high society events, especially if she meant to go toe to toe with a heptarch. “If it’s an issue distracting my fellow heptarchs, how can I refuse.”

 _Fellow_ —Jedao glanced at Khiaz, but she was unruffled by the claim. It explained the familiarity and lack of honorifics, at least. But how had he missed the appointment of a new heptarch? Granted, he had been engaged in a string of volatile battles with foreigners—active swarms seldom received current news irrelevant to their engagements—which had culminated in this new promotion, but that was no excuse for allowing his attention on the heptarchate to slip.

“No one from the Mwennin minority has ever entered faction service before. Why did you choose to join the Nirai?” Khiaz spoke perfectly-accented high language; Jedao had never heard her speak any other, though she was widely held to be fluent in most of the main languages spoken by the closest neighbours of the heptarchate. So the way her voice changed when she said _Mwennin_ —a group he had never heard of before—had to be the proper low-language pronunciation.

“I first applied to Kel Academy Prime,” Cheris said. “A certain high-ranking Nirai solicited my enrolment with his faction not long after, on the basis of my mathematical scores.” She shrugged, spreading her hands as if to say: _here I am now_.

“Kujen recruited you.” Khiaz’s tone had gone flat. Jedao tensed even further: Khiaz was not only surprised, but displeased.

“I understand that Amihito brought my profile to his attention initially,” Cheris said blandly, naming the—apparently former—Nirai heptarch. “I can only hope I managed to properly convey my gratitude before his passing.”

Khiaz laughed, sharp-edged and cruel. “I’m sure he knew how you felt by the end.”

Cheris inclined her head slightly. “Does that put your disagreement with the others to rest, Khiaz?”

She hadn’t actually answered—or she had, but it wasn’t the information that Khiaz had truly sought. That was obvious from the way Khiaz narrowed her eyes.

“I don’t know that it was a disagreement so much as idle gossip. But we’ll leave the room to you, Cheris—you do look slightly ragged around the edges.” Khiaz took his wrist without looking, her grasp loose enough to escape—if he ignored the way her nails pressed against his skin, even through her illegal Kel gloves. She had a finger right on his pulse too; there was no hiding the way his heart picked up.

But Cheris made no attempt to clear the doorway. “Actually, Wasau and I were discussing one of our joint projects, and he suggested I find General Jedao, who he thought would be a good candidate for implementation. I was just—” her eyes dropped down briefly, obscured by delicate lashes, “—embarrassed to admit that Wasau had put me up to interrupting you. I should have realized he was teasing me.”

Khiaz pressed her lips together, her grip tightening briefly. “That reminds me, I had something to discuss with Wasau as well.”

Cheris looked back, too neutral to be guileless. “Don’t let me keep you. He was holding court in the main hall when I left him. I believe the only thing you’ll be interrupting is one of his endless stories about some campaign against the Gwa Reality.”

“You’re not afraid to make dangerous enemies, Nirai-zho,” Jedao drawled once Khiaz had collected her coat and left, probably to go maul or otherwise humiliate Kel Wasau. Better the Kel heptarch than Jedao, as far as he was concerned.

“I don’t know to whom you’re referring,” Cheris said, still so properly formal. “We’re all heptarchs, working toward a common goal: the benefit of the heptarchate.” She looked around the room again, with a critical eye. “Would you prefer to discuss the project here, or somewhere else in this ridiculous mansion?”

“Kel-zho will be insulted you don’t approve of his decor,” Jedao demurred, casually adjusting his sleeve. It didn’t look like Khiaz had left a bruise.

What did his preference matter anyway? From her tone, it was obvious she didn’t want to use this room, though it was as private as any other: small, with a quartet of chairs around a modest table, decorated liberally with the Kel ashhawk and flame. It was under full surveillance by the Kel for certain and most likely the Shuos as well, but that was the price of doing business in the heptarchate. Jedao wouldn’t bet that Cheris’ own faction hadn’t bugged the place either, for that matter.

“Wasau should remember where the majority of his technological innovations come from,” Cheris muttered. More loudly, she added, “I passed a conservatory on the way in. Would that suit?”

“This room is acceptable to me,” Jedao said, mostly because he was curious to see how Cheris would react. “Unless Nirai-zho wishes to relocate.”

She fixed him with a look that suggested she saw through him—wasn’t that a disturbing thought—but settled herself in one of the chairs and gestured for him to do the same.

Then she launched into an explanation about formation mechanics that flew almost entirely over his head, dense with higher-level mathematical theory that he hadn’t been able to grasp at even its most basic level back in the academy. He almost wished she’d left him to Khiaz’s tender mercies. (But not really.)

What Cheris’ hypothesis boiled down to—as far as he could gather—was that certain formations produced unforeseen benefits to those holding the formation beyond what could reasonably be explained. She wanted to test this hypothesis in the field and prove that formations could generate exotic effects.

“I have yet to be assigned a swarm of my own,” Jedao said, when she had finished, “but I would be glad to help you test your formations, Nirai-zho.”

Cheris tapped her fingers against the table. “I’m still in the theoretical stages. Ideally, I could request a battalion or two of infantry to perform tests in a closed setting—there are fewer variables to consider planetside, but if exotic effects can be generated by infantry formations, the same should be true of moth formations.”

That made sense. He certainly didn’t have the knowledge to disprove it. “I imagine there are no battalions to spare.” Wasau had always seemed more interested in more powerful warmoths and weapons, so he’d done what he always did: foisted the undesirable assignment onto the best seconded officer he had, rather than risk a Kel officer instead.

“You’re well informed.” Cheris scowled, at which point the door opened and Gized all but charged in. She drew up short when she saw Jedao and Cheris sitting across from each other.

“Nirai-zho,” Jedao said smoothly, “this is Colonel Kel Gized, my chief of staff. Probably come to check that her new general isn’t falling down drunk. Gized, Nirai Cheris-zho.”

Gized bowed formally, murmuring a greeting to Cheris and an apology for the interruption. Cheris dismissed it with a wave of her hand, and bade her to take a seat.

“I’ve taken up enough of your time, General. This party is in honour of your recent promotion, is it not?”

“Among others. But I always have time for a heptarch.”

Her mouth thinned: wrong answer. But why was she heptarch if she did not care for the trappings of rank? “Nevertheless. I should go mingle.”

“You already spoke with Kel-zho and Shuos-zho,” Jedao pointed out in spite of himself. None of the other heptarchs were in attendance—that he knew of. He hadn’t known the Nirai heptarch was going to show up, after all. “Who else do you need to mingle with?”

Gized’s expression said, loud and clear, _what are you doing?_ but Jedao knew Gized’s presence alone wouldn’t deter Khiaz. She wouldn’t hesitate to order a mere colonel away. Maybe he was only prolonging the inevitable, but if he could avoid her for the rest of the night, he’d be able to prepare more thoroughly the next time they met—

“Did you have something else to discuss?” Cheris asked, settling back in her chair.

“Not exactly.” Jedao smiled. “Do you play _jeng-zai_ , Nirai-zho?”


End file.
